


Birthday Card

by Aithilin



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 03:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1589465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock has never been very good with remembering dates. But the important ones are sometimes ingrained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Card

He wasn’t good with dates. Names and faces were fine— usually. He can generally attach one to the other when needed, and when relevant. But specific dates were different. Major holidays, sure; there was plenty of warning for most big holidays that he couldn’t miss. Though he was still sometimes a day or two off.

His parents’ birthdays were drilled into him since childhood, though Mycroft still handled those. The same with Mothering Sunday. He could remember Mycroft’s birthday enough to find some way to embarrass him him front of his minions. With anyone else, he just assumed that they understood him well enough to know that he barely recalled his own birthday. 

But he was confused as April arrived and he started thinking that he should pick up a card.

Confused, Sherlock had dug through all of John’s social contacts to see what might be happening. But there was nothing he could think of. There were no events, no birthdays listed in John's calendars, that he should take notice of (though he would need to mind when John returned from his dentist appoint on the 23rd; there could be hours of amusement when John couldn't talk). 

Still, before the end of the first week, he found himself looking at the cards in the shop, a nagging constant in his mind telling him that this was important. Someone was important.

One card stood out— there flowers and buttons, and strange little things meant to be glittery kittens on it. It wished a woman a happy birthday, but referred to the recipient as a ‘girlfriend’, and Sherlock was at a loss.

He didn’t have a girlfriend. And neither did John. He knew that this card was what he needed to get but—

_Molly_. He was shopping for _Molly’s_ birthday. Of course. He would have found evidence of it somewhere-- during work in the lab or in her office. She never would have mentioned it in passing, an clearly no one else knew that it would be coming soon. 

He frowned and looked at the card again. It really was perfect for her. Sugary and acceptably adorable. But she wasn’t his girlfriend. He supposed he could scratch that bit out without damaging the card itself.

She’d notice, of course. He had found that Molly was quite observant when it came to these things. She might not like the term scratched out, but she’d understand why. This card was the only acceptable pattern, thought the term was wrong. She would understand that.

He’d soften the sting of it with a flower. Molly seemed the type to like flowers.


End file.
